Finding the light

 During June, we have many hours of sunshine in Winnipeg.  We get up earlier and stay up later, and things seem very busy.  The birds are singing, it's bright daylight at 5AM, and we're doing all the things except sleeping enough.  Last weekend was especially busy, as these gentlemen turned 8.  Yes, eight years old!!  (Yup, they do not look like this anymore!  My twins have new hats....)

We were very busy with planting our garden, eating gelati with some of our favorite grown ups, and having a special kids' birthday at the university greenhouse last Sunday with a few kid friends.  Yes, the professor was loaned a key to the greenhouse and did the tours--there are a few advantages to having a biology professor dad!
I made cupcakes.  They tasted pretty good, but it is obvious that I did, indeed, fail the icing and piping section of the breads and desserts class. I took this course as a senior at Cornell...I'd already finished most of the coursework for my double major.  It was an elective at the Cornell hotel school. I can make a really presentable loaf of rustic whole wheat bread, but somehow, no one wants that with a candle in it on his eighth birthday!  Go figure.

On Monday, I worked like crazy, trying to catch up on my worklife after the big festivities.  This was complicated by the city's plans to fix some sidewalks near our house.  There was a lot of jackhammering. It's truly hard to write and edit when the house is shaking. 

Tuesday, I hopped in the car at lunch hour to run errands and looked in my rear view mirror.  I prepared to back out.  Then I noticed this.  It's not really clear if this was vandalism (and there is this kind of window breaking vandalism in our neighbourhood...) or if it was just the vibrations from the jackhammer.  Needless to say, I was a little shaken up.  (Note my very annoyed reflection in the glass there...)

The professor kindly brought the car to an autobody shop, where they treated my bright yellow, 16 year old Pontiac Aztek like it was a unicorn.  They told him there were no replacement parts in Canada, they don't make this anymore. It would take 3-4 weeks to get the replacement glass from Minnesota. And-- if it did not work out, well, they would have to total my-low mileage, entirely functional, reasonably fuel efficient- car.  (Please insert your bad words of choice here.)  Needless to say, we're going to try to make the repair work out.

In an effort to try to be cheery, despite the jack hammering outside, (AHHHHHH!), here is my latest article in the Jewish Independent:
See the light inside everyone

And, despite the sidewalk construction noise, the port-a-potty across the street, the workers leaving their lunch trash in front of my house....and smoking near my old wooden house, --even though we've got a fire ban going on--(it's dry as heck here), well, I'm trying really hard to see that light.

Note: Sometime soon, I will post about my new article in PLY Magazine's spindle issue.  Probably after the jack hammering stops...

Sundae Sunday!

Did you know that the ice cream sundae was invented 119 years ago today in Ithaca, New York? Learn more about it here! The professor and I are considering celebrating this important birthday together later. We met in Ithaca, while we were undergraduates at Cornell. One of our first dates was at an ice cream parlor. We're serious about ice cream around here...it's snowing/raining/slushy out today in Winnipeg, but we wouldn't let a little ithacating get in our way. We're thinking of an ice cream sundae date later. Celebrate with us! Tell me about the delicious sundae you had today?

new projects for a new year

The Jewish New Year started last week (Rosh Hashanah) and the new year is 5771. It's a tradition to wear new clothes for the new year, and I wanted to finish that endless purple sweater so I could wear it to a friend's house for a holiday dinner, and for services on Thursday. I managed it. I haven't managed a photo of the sweater in use, as taking pictures isn't really something we do on this holiday. It's really supposed to be a time to go to synagogue, to see friends and family, to eat great big holiday meals and to rest. No errands, no chores, etc. I did rest, although I had a hard time avoiding the outside world this time...others' errands and a doctor's appointment happened "to me" even though I tried to avoid them!

Anyhow, I caught a photo of this sweater today while hanging it on a radiator. Our heat is now coming on occasionally as we're beginning to see cooler fall temperatures. This is a Debbie Bliss pattern, knit with Zara, a DK weight Merino wool. I sometimes knit other folks' patterns to see how they do things. My favorite part of this pattern was the pleated "bustle" in the back. I managed to catch a photo of that today, although I'm wearing blue jeans and not dressed up to match the sweater.

I was also able to finish the weaving of this rug made from mill ends that I purchased in May at Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival. The edges still need to be finished, but it is now off the loom.

Last week I dyed some of the Brown Sheep Wool Mill Ends that I also got in May. I did a pound of this as a dusty rose (pictured here) and a pound of bright red. Here's the start of the next rug. When I dyed these, I discovered that the wool is mixed with a bit of mohair in places, so there is a shimmer and luster to this rug that I wasn't expecting. I'm enjoying seeing the surprise of it as I weave it up!

Now I am on to thinking about designing myself a new sweater. When I am not designing for others, I delve into my stash. I like to buy "souvenir" yarn when I go on vacations. This combo is now enough for a sweater...but the mohair/wool boucle (on a cone) is from Cushendale Woollen Mills in Ireland-I think we were there in 2005. The DK and laceweight weight wool is from a trip to New Zealand and Australia, and I used some of the DK yarn for my Two Point Scarf design. (the pattern is available for download both on Ravelry and from my website.) I was worried that I would not have enough matching yarn for my sweater ideas, so I visited my closest Local Yarn Shop--Wolseley Wool. (They've just moved to a new shop down the block from Wolseley Wardrobe!) There I found some Peruvian alpaca in just the right shade at my local Canadian yarn shop...on close out because they were in the midst of moving.

I'm looking forward to making the sweater...and I'm pretty sure there won't be another one like it! Not anywhere in the world! It's the souvenir Ireland/New Zealand/U.S./Canadian/Peruvian yarn.

Finally, I am inspired by all this red to mention one last thing. I discovered that I have been written up in the Cornell Alumni Magazine this month. Scroll down, I'm just past the person who does President Lincoln re-enactments! It makes me sound a little more clever than I actually am--I'm no expert at sewing, for one thing--but I'm honored to be mentioned there. I'm a proud Cornellian.

...So, got any neat new projects for fall?

Sometimes it rains

...and you don't realize you're in the middle of something bigger than a rain storm. When I wrote my last post, I was saying ...ok, we had a little rain here. I was maybe understating the situation. Winnipeg was on the national--and then international-- news. I know this because my sister-in-law in Virginia emailed to ask if we'd been flooded out.

So far? No problems at our house, and we have a lovely sunny day right now. That's good, because over 500 homes in the area (and many more unreported ones) are busy taking all the ruined stuff out their basements. HERE is a photo of what things looked like.

It's supposed to rain again starting tomorrow. Uh Oh.

The student that is visiting here has been exploring our connections. In April of 2007, we both went to hear the Yarn Harlot speak in Lexington, Kentucky. Last night, our resident student looked up the Yarn Harlot's blog post from that day. Take a wander over there...and you'll see, first, a photo of a woman in a bright blue v-neck top, holding up stripey socks. Our Resident Student is the red head to her left in the photo. (No, we didn't know each other yet.)

Keep scrolling down, and you'll see a photo of me in a bright red wool sweater. It made sense when leaving my home in the cool early morning to make the 2 hour drive. It was darn warm when I arrived in Lexington. Here's what Stephanie aka Yarn Harlot said:
(Joanne)
Who I know in from the internet and was trying her best to look like a Canadian (that was the plan...right Joanne?) wearing her very best woolies. Fabulous socks...yes? (It was hot in Kentucky. Joanne looked - besides fantastic, like I always do...warm.)

Note: the Fabulous Socks are available here in case they distracted you.

Anyhow, at the time of that event, I had no idea that I was yearning to live in Canada. Now I do live here! I also had no idea that Resident Student would become one of the Professor's research students, and eventually live on the third floor of my house while visiting Canada.

Connections are sometimes a long time in the making, huh? It took years (and a persistent undergrad) to see the long strands of yarn that connect all these events!

Here's the kicker. Back when I was undergraduate at Cornell, I often thought they'd made a mistake in accepting me. It was sometimes such a struggle--I felt stretched sometimes academically. One cold and dark Saturday evening, I promised myself that if I studied at the library for a couple of hours, I'd let myself go out afterwards. As I trudged to the library, I looked up. In every single window, at each library desk, I saw a student studying. It turned out sometimes everyone else felt the way I did. I wasn't alone in feeling like maybe I wasn't good enough to be there...and that I needed to study on Saturday nights.

Today I got an email from a student intern at the Cornell Alumni News. She asked if she could interview me for the magazine. I was so excited and surprised! Good thing I was sitting down. Apparently, 15 years after graduation, I am worth interviewing. Wow.

If I had to rate all this? Living in Canada, not having a flood at my house, or this interview? I'd be hard pressed to say which connection is best.

Nah. Just thought about it. Probably not having a flood is best.

Too bad it's going to rain again soon. I am just hoping to avoid a flood...